WRH contract negotiations stalled due to mediator

WOOD RIVER — The Wood River Hartford Board of Education canceled a Nov. 18 negotiation session with the Wood River Education Association (WREA) due to a federal mediator being recalled to Washington, D.C.

Teachers in the Wood River Hartford School District have been working without a contract since August. According to WREA co-president Sheryl Ross, negotiations involving language went smoothly and an initial meeting about money issues in a potential new contract went well. When the union offered to meet without the federal mediator, the district refused.

“The board canceled (last) Wednesday’s night bargaining session because the mediator had to go out of town,” Illinois Education Association Regional Director Ric Stephenson said in an email. “Boards and associations meet all the time during mediation even when the mediator isn’t present. We asked to still meet and were denied such a bargaining session by the district’s attorney, supposedly under the direction of the board.”

The district’s attorney also initiated a “public posting process,” which is an item usually related to an association beginning a strike process, according to Stephenson. During this process, both the district and the WREA are required to submit contract offerings to the Illinois Labor Board.

“We will publicly post our proposal and its cost as directed by the statute,” he said. “We welcome public scrutiny of our offer. I believe the community will agree that our most senior employees should not have to forfeit a slight pay raise, particularly when the district has had the top financial rating in the state for a decade and is sitting on over $2 million in its working cash fund. That’s not even considering the revenue the district is receiving from its settlement with the Wood River Refinery.”

Ross, who presides over the union membership with Co-President Carol Fowler-Dixon, said the WREA includes teachers as well as support staff and would like to see the new contract reflect fairness.

She added the staff has not received an updated salary schedule for three years with the exception of step movement.

“We really don’t know what the next step in this process is,” Ross said. “We have heard nothing from the board really. We hope things will end quickly and without a problem.”

Wood River Hartford Superintendent Patrick Anderson said the two sides remain in negotiations and are in the process of finding dates to mediate.

Stephenson indicated a future bargaining session with the presence of the federal mediator will take place on Dec. 14, 2015.

“To date, WREA members have refrained from taking a strike vote so as to demostrate their desire to conclude negotiations on a positive note,” he said in an email. “It was disappointing to the members when the board canceled the last bargaining session.”

Reporter Cory Davenport can be reached at (618) 208-6447 or on Twitter @CoryTelegraphs.